My brother handed it to me proudly with a smile on his face. The case looked more tatty than when I had seen it last and the shoulder strap had snapped, hanging down to the floor. As I unbuckled the case and lifted it out carefully – almost reverently – I could see he had looked after it well. It was an old Webley Vulcan .177, an air rifle I had bought when I was just 13 years old. It was my treasured possession for many years when I did target shooting. As the case slid to the floor and I caressed the wood and metal in my hands, I felt an adrenaline rush as vivid flashbacks rushed through my mind.

I was 15 when someone tried to burgle the house at midnight. My parents were away on holiday and I was inside – alone. I could hear someone outside trying to break through the back door. I slid out of bed, grabbed the rifle, loaded it, opened the window, called out a warning (trying to avoid my voice shaking) and fired a shot at a metal bin in the garden. The loud bang reverberated in the dead of night and it startled me as much as them. They fell silent. I closed the window, held my breath and, after a few moments, heard them scrambling over the garage roof to escape into the night.

Why am I sharing this? As leaders, OD, coaches and trainers, we may focus on practical, thinking and feeling aspects of change and lose sight of the impacts of physicality, of environment, of doing-it. It is when I touched and held the rifle that I felt it, that my imagination was triggered. It’s often when we visit a place, meet a real person, do a thing, try something new (rather than think about, reflect on, imagine it, ‘as if’) that startling awareness, insight and ideas rise to the surface. We discover intuitively and viscerally – and it can propel us forward. If we touch something, it touches us.

Great article. Read it even though I really don't like the word physicality that seems to be popular now.

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Nick Wright

8/5/2017 07:04:16 am

Thanks Bonnie! :)

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Barry Jackson

9/5/2017 02:06:58 am

I have had this experience of trying something new, unplanned and finding myself in something unexpected. I had been asked, at short notice to stand in for a "motivational speaker" who had let an organiser down. The organiser was a teacher and the audience a group of teenagers, about 300 of them. Whatever audience I'm addressing, I make a point of greeting them as they file into the room and I got the impression that this was a group of kids who, probably, were not used to any adult being proud of them. To this day, I cannot put my finger on what it was that made me feel this way but, mid-way through my talk, I announced that if anyone felt it would help them, I would shake them by the hand, look into their eyes and say, "You make me proud of you." I certainly had not planned this beforehand. It wasn't in my script at all. As soon as I finished, a long line of students were waiting for me and the looks in their eyes as I delivered the words, "I feel very proud of you!" Got it right.

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Nick Wright

9/5/2017 02:10:40 am

Hi Barry. What a wonderful example of being willing to take on the challenge and to trust your intuition. I love how you shook hands with as well as spoke to the students. There are resonances for me with a similar experience that I shared in this short piece: http://www.nick-wright.com/blog/the-power-of-presence

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Richard Bardsley

9/5/2017 03:37:56 am

So very true. In training a connection to the 'real' is such a powerful thing.

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Nick Wright

9/5/2017 03:38:22 am

Thanks Richard. I agree!

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Chandramappa Dore

10/5/2017 02:00:38 pm

Real life incidents will have more effect.

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Nick Wright

10/5/2017 02:02:31 pm

Hi Chandramappa. Yes, trying out ideas and experiences in real life situations can be very effective.

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Pamela Enz

11/5/2017 01:43:49 am

Thanks for the great reminder. It's nice to know this is true for others too.

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Nick Wright

11/5/2017 01:44:43 am

Thanks Pamela. Sounds like you may have some similar insights and experiences. Could you say a bit more?

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Angela Goode

12/5/2017 12:14:59 am

I liked the article. I happen to be working quite intensely on this subject. Through practice I have always believed in incorporating real world experiences or even real work in my trainings as much as possible. I have now developed a research interest in embodied cognition and looking at how some things are learned more efficiently uses our senses and how tech can assist with providing a fully engaged, embodied learning experience.

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Nick Wright

12/5/2017 12:18:09 am

Thanks Angela. Your research in this area sounds fascinating. You may find this article interesting? http://www.nick-wright.com/just-do-it.html I wrote it as a Gestalt case study and it touches on some of the areas you have alluded to. Let me know what you think!

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Muhammad Ali Inayat

14/5/2017 08:36:54 am

Beautiful thoughts.

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Nick Wright

14/5/2017 08:37:27 am

Thank you, Muhammad.

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Nick is a freelance coach, trainer and OD consultant specialising in reflective practice.